rosemary - colours question

corpusAugust 4, 2006

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum for my question but since rosemary might wind up in potage I thought you'd let me ask here.

I have the regular, common or garden variety of rosemary and it's doing quite well despite the fact that it gets little care or attention. My wife has come home from her job with a sprig of rosemary from the garden there and the flower is bluer.

Before I put mine out and start again, can anyone tell me whether, if I improve the nutriments etc. and actually water it, the colours might deepen?

Don't water it! Rosemary likes it hot and dry. Is it safe to nibble on the sprig your wife brought you?

If it is, I would taste test it against what you have... there's a lot of varieties out there but there doesn't seem to be munch sense to the labels you see. I usually rely on my sense of taste, you can taste the difference in the different varieties.

If it tastes different, see if your wife can find out what variety they planted. As I said before, the labeling system seems half hazard, so you are probably better off mail ordering it from a herb specialty catalog if you can find out what it is.

I have Tuscan blue rosemary, and it blooms a medium blue. By the way, I do believe rosemary grows real easily from cuttings. I've not actually tried propagating rosemary, but it should work. Have your wife bring you a nice healthy 6 inch cutting to try. I've done lavender that way, just use a small pot (3 to 4 inch) at first, with plenty of cactus mix added to the potting mix. You need good drainage, esp with cuttings or they will rot.
-Becky

You can't change the color or rosemary. Different varieties have different colors. They come in lt blue, med blue, dark blue, pink and white. It depends on the vairety. Some grow upright and some cascade down.